In Kyondoe, Kawkareik, and Nabar towns of Kawkareik District, Karen State, the junta has been pressuring soldiers and civil staff under its control to cast early votes for the regime-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
The junta has been directing its subordinates to vote for USDP candidates in the final round of election held in phases. However, those under pressure still do not know who the USDP candidates are for the voting scheduled on January 25.
Commanders from battalions stationed in Kyondoe, Kawkareik, and Nabar, as well as Military Operations Command 12 (MOC 12), were instructed on January 15 to collect early votes from troops.
“Kyondoe-based light infantry battalions 546 and 545 are already done with the early vote collection. In Kyondoe, teachers were also pressured to cast early votes. In Kawkareik, everyone in MOC 12 and Infantry Battalion 97 was ordered to submit early votes. The soldiers were told the polling stations in the bases wouldn’t be open; they’d only collect early votes. Their superiors told them to vote for the USDP, so they just did that. But they don’t even know which candidate they voted for,” a source close to the junta in Kawkareik Town said.
In four downtown wards of Kyondoe, early votes are being collected, and civil servants under the junta are being pressured to cast ballots. Locals reported that, instead of political parties campaigning or carrying out canvasses, it is the junta’s administrative staff who are mainly organizing the early vote collection.
Displaced residents who had fled to rural areas amid ongoing fighting in Kyondoe and Kawkareik are also being pressured by junta-appointed authorities and the junta-aligned Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) to return home and vote.
“Over the past few days, in Nabu as well, displaced residents taking refuge in Dawlan, Kwatthit, Myapataing, Naunghtetpan, and Nankawtay villages are being called back by the junta. Officials and the BGF have been going around, telling them to return home,” a Nabu resident said.
For the third round of voting, Kawkareik and Kyondoe constituencies will see competition between the USDP, two Karen ethnic parties, one Pa-O ethnic party, and several independent candidates.
Ahead of the voting day, the junta has been carrying out military operations across villages in Kawkareik and Kyondoe. According to sources from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), junta troops under Light Infantry Division 22 are also planning to deploy along the Hlaingbwe–Paingkyon–Nabu Road section near Nabu.
